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“Yes, I have.” No denials, no defensiveness. Just a calm, clear statement.
“It’s your demon doing this, isn’t it?”
“My hatchling is under my control now, so no—it’s me doing it, but the demon gives me the power. We work together.” He frowned. “If you’re concerned, you needn’t be. I’ll continue to evolve, but unlike the Bat People, I am not enamored of the night-veil demons. I simply accept them for what they are, a tool to an end.”
“A tool? But they are sentient—they have a will of their own. Yours decked me a good one and I have the bruises to prove it.” I wasn’t sure how I felt about anyone referring to another creature as their tool, even a demon.
“They are what they are, Cicely. There are so many aspects to this universe that you do not understand—that none of us understands. There is no absolute black or white. Even Myst has a side to her, somewhere, that walks in shades of gray. You may see it one day, and I pray it won’t be your downfall.”
I bit my lip. Nothing could make me feel sorry for Myst, but even as I thought the words, I decided not to utter them aloud. No sense in jinxing myself. Besides, Kaylin would just argue with me.
“Let’s go home. I have a lot to think about before meeting with Geoffrey and Lainule tomorrow night.”
We headed back to the house, and Kaylin helped me leap off the astral, back into the physical realm. I shivered, icy cold. Before he left my room, he brushed back the strands of my hair and smiled softly.
“You brought Luna into the house. For that I thank you. I feel a pull to her, as I’ve never felt a pull toward any woman. I only hope she isn’t spoken for.”
“She’s not,” I said automatically, before thinking I should have kept my mouth shut. She might not be interested in Kaylin—although if I read her energy correctly at dinner, there had been mutual sparks. But whatever the case, the cat was out of the bag.
“That’s all I wanted to know.” He paused. “Cicely, don’t worry—if she’s not interested, I won’t press the matter or make her uncomfortable. I’m not the one you have to watch out for.”
He left, closing the door behind him. I locked it, hating the fact that I felt like I had to lock my door now, that I didn’t know if I could trust everyone in the house. After Anadey, I had lost confidence in my ability to know whom to trust. What if Luna wasn’t who I thought she was? What if Leo really was in cahoots with . . . well, at this point, was Lannan worse than Geoffrey? And Geoffrey had seemed nice compared to the others, but Lannan’s words rang in my head. And so did Geoffrey’s own—how he had bragged about the swath of destruction he left behind him.
I crawled back onto the bed, pulling the quilt around my shoulders and wrapping my arms around my knees. As I huddled, another knock sounded at the door.
“Am I Grand Central Station tonight?” I grumbled to myself, but then called, “Come in.”
“It’s locked.”
I clambered out of bed and opened the door.
Peyton entered the room. She followed me back to the bed and—without the pretense of small talk—sat down beside me.
“What did my mother do to you? You have to tell me.”
I thought about what Lainule had ordered and shook my head. “Don’t want to talk about it.”
“I know it was worse than you let on. I know she fucked you over a good one—and I know that it has something to do with me.” Her eyes flared. “I’m moving out for good. I’ve talked to Rhiannon, and she said I can move in here. I’ll be taking the downstairs maid’s bedroom. I can’t trust my own mother, and if I find out she put you in danger . . .”
“Stop. Stop right there.” I was furious at Anadey, but the last thing we needed was for Peyton to go all wild child on her. “I can’t say anything right now, but yes—she did try to fuck me over. And yes, it does have something to do with you.” I paused, remembering Anadey’s rant about Peyton’s father. “Have you talked to your father recently?”
Peyton shook her head. “I was going to call him, set up a time to meet him here.”
“Call him now, but hold off on the meeting for a few days. Do not tell anybody else about it, and do not use your own phone. Use Kaylin’s phone.” Anadey had access to Rhiannon’s cell phone when she helped her with her magic, and she’d have access to Peyton’s cell phone without any trouble. Who knew whether she’d messed with mine while I was there? But Kaylin—she barely had anything to do with Kaylin. “Go ask him to borrow it now, then come back here.”
I waited for her. After a few minutes, she returned. I prayed her father would still answer—if Anadey had been using me to . . .
“Dad? This is Peyton . . .” A pause, and she frowned. “What? Where are you? Why . . . okay . . .” A pause, and then a longer pause. After a few minutes, she whispered, “Please, be careful. I’ll call you back when I’ve thought of what to do.” As she hung up, she gazed up at me. “You knew he was in danger, didn’t you?”
I bit my lip. “I suspected. I don’t know the details, and as I said, I can’t tell you everything that happened . . . yet . . . but you have to warn him to be careful. Don’t try to see him yet. He needs to lie low and not tell anybody where he is. And whatever you do, don’t talk to him on your phone or on Rhiannon’s phone.”
After a moment, a light flashed in Peyton’s eyes. “Mother. Mother’s behind whatever is happening to him. He told me that he’s been followed for the past two days—that he was almost sideswiped by a black limousine today and only managed to escape by driving into a parking lot and losing himself in the crowd. He grew suspicious and decided to go into hiding.”
“I think Anadey is behind this, but she’s working with someone and we’re trying to find out who. You absolutely have to keep quiet. Anybody could be in on this.”
“By anybody, you mean Leo. Black limousines? Come on, that has vampire written all over it.”
I realized that she thought Leo might have been the one driving the car that tried to sideswipe Rex. The thought hadn’t occurred to me—I’d just assumed it was some vamp for hire that Anadey had come in contact with. But now, the idea that it might have been Leo loomed large in my mind. Anadey had been trying to strip away my connection to Grieve, and Leo had been on a real bender lately about that same subject. Suppose he’d promised her something in return—such as Rex never getting to see and talk to Peyton?
